How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics

Steve Benford; Rachael Garrett; Eike Schneiders; Paul Tennent; Alan Chamberlain; Juan Avila; Pat Brundell; Simon Castle-Green

doi:10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6

How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics

Steve Benford^*, Rachael Garrett, Eike Schneiders, Paul Tennent, Alan Chamberlain, Juan Avila, Pat Brundell, Simon Castle-Green

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Psychology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding (ISBN)

Abstract

We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Broncomatic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with a family of three cats for twelve days. Different Bodies is a prototype improvised dance performance in which dancers with disabilities physically manipulate two mirrored robot arms. We reflect on these to explore how artists shape robotics research through the two key strategies of improvisation and provocation. Artists are skilled at improvising extended robot experiences that surface opportunities for technology-focused design, but which also require researchers to improvise their research processes. Artists may provoke audiences into reflecting on the societal implications of robots, but at the same time challenge the established techno-centric concepts, methods and underlying epistemology of robotics research.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Social Robotics
Editors	Oskar Palinko, Leon Bodenhagen, John-John Cabibihan, Kerstin Fischer, Selma Šabanović, Katie Winkle, Laxmidhar Behera, Shuzhi Sam Ge, Dimitrios Chrysostomou, Wanyue Jiang, Hongsheng He
Place of Publication	Singapore
Publisher	Springer Nature
Pages	66-77
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Print)	978-981-96-3525-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6
Publication status	Published - 25 Mar 2025

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume	15563

Keywords

art
social robotics
improvisation
provocation

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6Licence: CC BY

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Cite this

Benford, S., Garrett, R., Schneiders, E., Tennent, P., Chamberlain, A., Avila, J., Brundell, P., & Castle-Green, S. (2025). How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. In O. Palinko, L. Bodenhagen, J.-J. Cabibihan, K. Fischer, S. Šabanović, K. Winkle, L. Behera, S. S. Ge, D. Chrysostomou, W. Jiang, & H. He (Eds.), Social Robotics (pp. 66-77). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15563). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6

Benford, Steve ; Garrett, Rachael ; Schneiders, Eike et al. / How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. Social Robotics. editor / Oskar Palinko ; Leon Bodenhagen ; John-John Cabibihan ; Kerstin Fischer ; Selma Šabanović ; Katie Winkle ; Laxmidhar Behera ; Shuzhi Sam Ge ; Dimitrios Chrysostomou ; Wanyue Jiang ; Hongsheng He. Singapore : Springer Nature, 2025. pp. 66-77 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).

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abstract = "We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Broncomatic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with a family of three cats for twelve days. Different Bodies is a prototype improvised dance performance in which dancers with disabilities physically manipulate two mirrored robot arms. We reflect on these to explore how artists shape robotics research through the two key strategies of improvisation and provocation. Artists are skilled at improvising extended robot experiences that surface opportunities for technology-focused design, but which also require researchers to improvise their research processes. Artists may provoke audiences into reflecting on the societal implications of robots, but at the same time challenge the established techno-centric concepts, methods and underlying epistemology of robotics research.",

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author = "Steve Benford and Rachael Garrett and Eike Schneiders and Paul Tennent and Alan Chamberlain and Juan Avila and Pat Brundell and Simon Castle-Green",

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Benford, S, Garrett, R, Schneiders, E, Tennent, P, Chamberlain, A, Avila, J, Brundell, P & Castle-Green, S 2025, How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. in O Palinko, L Bodenhagen, J-J Cabibihan, K Fischer, S Šabanović, K Winkle, L Behera, SS Ge, D Chrysostomou, W Jiang & H He (eds), Social Robotics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 15563, Springer Nature, Singapore, pp. 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6

How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. / Benford, Steve; Garrett, Rachael; Schneiders, Eike et al.
Social Robotics. ed. / Oskar Palinko; Leon Bodenhagen; John-John Cabibihan; Kerstin Fischer; Selma Šabanović; Katie Winkle; Laxmidhar Behera; Shuzhi Sam Ge; Dimitrios Chrysostomou; Wanyue Jiang; Hongsheng He. Singapore: Springer Nature, 2025. p. 66-77 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15563).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding (ISBN)

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AB - We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Broncomatic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with a family of three cats for twelve days. Different Bodies is a prototype improvised dance performance in which dancers with disabilities physically manipulate two mirrored robot arms. We reflect on these to explore how artists shape robotics research through the two key strategies of improvisation and provocation. Artists are skilled at improvising extended robot experiences that surface opportunities for technology-focused design, but which also require researchers to improvise their research processes. Artists may provoke audiences into reflecting on the societal implications of robots, but at the same time challenge the established techno-centric concepts, methods and underlying epistemology of robotics research.

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PB - Springer Nature

CY - Singapore

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Benford S, Garrett R, Schneiders E, Tennent P, Chamberlain A, Avila J et al. How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. In Palinko O, Bodenhagen L, Cabibihan JJ, Fischer K, Šabanović S, Winkle K, Behera L, Ge SS, Chrysostomou D, Jiang W, He H, editors, Social Robotics. Singapore: Springer Nature. 2025. p. 66-77. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). doi: 10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_6